It's always challenging to review a new record, no matter the genres, where an artist surrounds him/herself by an array of Special Guests, playing literally on each and every song of said record.
While the attraction, for some music lovers and for a new body of work like the one mentioned above, may come from big names taking part to the record itself, it's when the album features the real core of the artist in question the factor that really elevates the overall quality of the finished product.
This can be, using a few words, the succint first impression deriving from the new album of one of the most loved and talented Blues/Rock artists of the last 2 decades, the Florida-based guitarist and singer/songwriter Albert Castiglia, who has recently released a brand new solo record called Righteous Souls.
Castiglia’s new album comes straight after the success of the Worldwide Tour with his fellow friend and Blues/Rock Titan Mike Zito, with whom Castiglia had recorded an album called Blood Brothers released in 2023, a multi Awards winner album that projected Castiglia even further to the top of the Blues/Rock world.
When the time came for Castiglia to work on a new album, he soon realised that there was not a huge amount of new material written to make up a record. Under suggestion of his close friend and President of Gulf Coast Records Mike Zito, Castiglia decided to gather, for his new album, some of the many fellow friends and artists he had met throughout his career, like Christone Ingram, Popa Chubby, Jimmy Carpenter, Ally Venable, Joe Bonamassa, Gary Hoey and many more, on each of the songs part of Righteous Souls.
The next step for the American singer/songwriter and guitarist was to structure the album in a cohesive way, a way in which he could put together the little material Castiglia had written in the last 12 months because of time constraints, plus songs written by other artists, like his mentor Junior Wells, Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton, among others.
As a whole, Righteous Souls is a very solid, well played and sang album all around that represents, in our personal opinion, where Castiglia’s artistic path is moving towards.
The opening one-two of Castiglia’s new album is absolutely breathtaking, especially on the record's first song, where Castiglia duets on guitar with Popa Chubby on a song called Centerline, an original from Castiglia, suspended on a high tempo between 70's Psychedelia and Southern Rock, a tune followed swiftly by a rather exquisite Memphis Blues style version of Luther ‘Snake Boy’ Johnson's Get Down To The Nitty Gritty, where Castiglia delivers a pitch perfect performance, both on guitar and on vocals.
While Righteous Souls falls slightly flat, in our view, in a couple of songs in the first part of the record, apart of the aforementioned opening one-two of the album and Castiglia's take on Willie Dixon's You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover, sang with his daughter Rayne and with Christone Ingram as Special Guest on guitar, it's the second part of the album that brings back more decisively that raw, natural and instinctive guitar playing and powerful, raucous vocals that have made the name and the style of Albert Castiglia so famous, distinguishable and hugely respected by the whole Blues/Rock community in so many countries in the world.
From the first bars of Till They Take Away, one can sense that the mood of the album is shifting back to more of Castiglia’s familiar territories especially for who, like ourselves at Bluebird Reviews, has followed Castiglia’s career closely for quite a few years now. The guitar ensemble of Castiglia and Ally Venable contains bags of swagger throughout, while Castiglia, vocally, is at his best and totally at ease.
From that point on, each song included in Righteous Souls is Castiglia at his finest; between a rather psychedelic version of Buddy Guy's The Dollar Done Felt, played exquisitely with Josh Smith on guitar and the closing, rampant Traditional Blues tune take on Junior Wells' What My Momma Told Me, Castiglia manages to squeeze another couple of gems, within his brand new and exciting record.
You Were Wrong, a song originally written by Arzell "Z.Z." Hill, is an absolute R&B masterclass, where Castiglia is supported on saxophone by one of the contemporary masters of the instrument, Jimmy Carpenter, a song where Castiglia’s voice fits like a dream and undoubtedly, one of the most exciting tunes ever recorded to date by the American guitarist and singer/songwriter.
One of the few originals coming from Castiglia’s songwriting is called No Tears Left To Cry, a song containing a distinctive semi-acoustic Southern-Rock flavour arrangement embracing the song from the very beginning, with Gary Hoey's work on guitar complementing very well Castiglia’s one. Furthermore, this extremely well penned tune reinstates once again Castiglia’s vocal versatility, a characteristic that keeps on unfolding beautifully on each passing record of the Florida-based artist.
Righteous Souls is, together with being a strong record containing great songs performed by someone recognised as a contemporary Blues/Rock legend like Albert Castiglia is, by fans, music press and fellow musicians, it's also an indicator of where Castiglia’s music is going, which each new album. His maturity and the will to explore more musical territories, while still maintaining his passion, artistic integrity and an honest approach to songwriting and performing, makes Albert Castiglia and his continuous growth, both as a man and as an artist, the perfect role model for whoever is attempting to understand where the Blues came from and the many ramifications the genre brought to contemporary music, included, in this particular instance, to the Blues/Rock of the 21st century.
Very few artists around are able to achieve that role. Well, perhaps just Righteous Souls like Albert Castiglia could..
Righteous Souls is out now and can be purchased via Albert Castiglia's Official Website
